


the colour of sunset on the ice of a glacier

by SecondStarOnTheLeft



Series: Commas [4]
Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: F/M, Freeform, Post-The Creature in the Case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 09:32:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2576666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondStarOnTheLeft/pseuds/SecondStarOnTheLeft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>he has a big mouth that gets him into trouble and maybe you should worry more but he's made such progress with a sword that there's no need.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the colour of sunset on the ice of a glacier

**i.**

you wake up and you reach out your hand to pet the dog before remembering that they're both gone.

you feel small and cut off every morning when you wake up and hear the bustle of the city outside and the rumble of the family and their attendants inside. you like to linger under the covers just for a moment as if your aunt might come and wake you before the clever glowing pretend clockwork on your nightstand dings and brings you into reality with a gentle nudge. your nephew

friend

little brother

is talented with the false clockwork and you like to watch him work but he's kept you out for weeks now with the promise of some great surprise. you find yourself spending time with your sister who often feels more like a mother and her husband who treats you like a daughter even though they are not even twice your age. you find that having a sister makes you think of faraway twins and that makes you feel warm and also terribly lonely because even if you never fit in there at least you knew why.

**ii.**

there is a young man in the back of your paperwing and you want to slap him as much as you want to push his hair away from his face.

you've never felt as confused or as beautiful as you do when he looks at you and you wish you knew what it meant or at least had someone to ask. you've never asked about romance before because it's never been anything but a theory except he accidentally gave you your life and

you

saved

his

in a tangle of old blood and older magic and that has led you here to another tangle. this one is a heat in your blood and a knowing

a good knowing

that you don't understand but you'd like to because he's kind and foolish and endearing and his hair is the colour of sunset on the ice of a glacier. the only ice you see any more is cold and grey but his hair is warm and golden and soft between your fingers when you let him kiss you.

**iii.**

he starts to accompany you on work trips and at first you're terrified but then you're thrilled.

he has a big mouth that gets him into trouble and maybe you should worry more but he's made such progress with a sword that there's no need. sometimes in the middle of a fight he'll shout free forbidden metallic words that he shouldn't know but the mark on his forehead remains as golden as his hair so you suppose that maybe those words are his to use

much like your bells

free but bound

and you don't see a need to tell anyone about them. you don't tell anyone about the way he looks after a fight stripped to his trousers sweat running down his back either because these trips are yours

what goes on tour stays on tour

ask your nephew love

and you never ever plan on sharing them or him.

**iv.**

he goes pink and asks you to marry him when you tell him about the baby and has to explain why before you agree.

you love him to bursting and fear that he loves you more but sometimes there's a great yawning divide between the two of you

a perimeter

a wall

a kingdom

and you say or do things that baffle one another. he finds the idea of the glacier fascinating and at first you think it's because of the ice creeping down the valley but it's really because the idea of so many women being in control of their own selves mesmerises him. one day you can't stand on your own because your ankles hurt too much

the twins wrote

it's twins

so your nephew brother friend comes and sits with you and that's the day you learn what bastardy means south of the wall and just why it was so important to him that you get married.

**v.**

his parents fear you and blame you for the man he's become but he defends you against them and stands proud with your children in his arms.

you don't have parents but you do have a kirrith and sometimes you look at life in the glacier and think that's better. she adores him and she's thrilled that you found someone even if you know she worries because you and him and your little ones are hard for her to see. you can see more clearly now though

no shame

only a little longing

and you know that she loves you whether or which and that she is only the start. you have an aunt and cousins and a sister and her husband and a niece and a nephew. you have a son and a daughter

and him

never forget him

and sometimes you forget what loneliness feels like.


End file.
